Most of us as children were taught the principle of cause and effect. Dad and mom diligently warned us that if we touched the top of the stove when it was turned on, we would get burned. Some, no doubt, tested that instruction to see if it was really true.
God tells us the same thing. “Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight” (Proverbs 26:2). Every flap of a bird’s wings will carry that bird along it to its destination. It is equally true that every curse comes upon us by whatever factors are propelling it along to its destination. There is always a cause for every curse as well as for every blessing.
Touching the hot stove, after having been warned about the danger, is a prime example of cause and effect. The child that tests it out will certainly conclude that touching hot objects is a bad thing to do – a curse. He or she has drawn a correct conclusion on the physical plane and that is important since we live in a physical world.
It is, however, an incomplete and dangerous conclusion, because the physical world we live in is the way it is due to spiritual interaction. In other words, there is the physical plane and there is a spiritual plane as well. If all the child has been taught is that touching hot things is a curse, that child is being prepared for more curses to come. It is true that the physical cause of the curse was touching the hot surface. But what about the cause on the spiritual plane? The spiritual cause of the curse was in not obeying one’s parents, as God commanded. Spiritual cause and effect always supersedes the physical. The child or adult that doesn’t learn that, will eventually forget God.
Climate change/global warming is a case in point. Enough physical evidence has been accumulated in recent decades to prove that the earth is indeed warming up. Desert areas around the globe have been continuously growing, snowpack has been decreasing, more record highs than lows have been recorded in the last couple of decades, etc… Researchers have discovered that a variety of man-made chemicals are contributing to ozone depletion which is causing the earth to heat up. Simple cause and effect, right? On the physical plane that is true.
More important than the physical, however, is the spiritual. There is no curse that comes about without a cause. God promises blessings or cursings, and that is dependent upon whether or not we obey Him. “‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely” (Lev.26:3-5). Our God who made the physical environment, will bless it if we obey Him and treat it properly. The opposite holds true as well. “‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit” (Lev. 26:18-20). The curses on our environment ultimately are a result of our disobedience to God. Yes, there are physical things we can do to harm the environment, but the fundamental cause of the curse is disobedience to the Maker of all things.
If what we see and understand of the principle of cause and effect is on the physical plane only, we will never truly understand the fundamental cause of the curse. “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:13-14). If we see and understand the principle of cause and effect on the spiritual plane, and bring ourselves in alignment with God’s ways — the lessons learned from the curses can prove to be wonderful blessings in the end.
Marshall Stiver
